First match will be important: Uruguay captain

Montevideo, May 15 (IANS) Uruguay's first match of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, against Costa Rica, will be its "most important", said national football team captain Diego Lugano.

That game will decide the future of the team's participation in Group D of the World Cup, Lugano told reporters at a press conference following the team's first practice session here Wednesday, reports Xinhua.

"The first game is always the most complicated, for us and for them as well," Lugano said.

The outcome of the first game "can influence the group, we've been talking about it for months," added Lugano, on the June 14 match in the city of Fortaleza.

Asked about Uruguay's other major rival in Group D, England, Lugano said they were a "tremendous rival ... to defeat."

"All the players (on the English team) are top-tier players that play in the world's best league, the Premier League," he said.

Lugano, who plays for English team West Bromwich, said many of the 32 national teams competing in this World Cup were evenly matched.

"I have never seen so many good teams as in this World Cup, with so many top-level players. It's all going to be very balanced," he said.

Uruguay are going into the World Cup as regional champion, and with a line-up composed of many of the players who participated in the 2010 South Africa World Cup, in which Uruguay reached fourth place.